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The Achievers Journal Volume 2, Issue 4 ISSN (ONLINE): 2395-0897 / ISSN (PRINT): 2454-2296 October-December, 2016 Giani Gian Singh as a Historian of the Sikhs: A Critique of His Literary Creations Sarita Rana Abstract Giani Gian Singh is one of the Sikh scholars who took keen interest in writing the history of the Sikhs. He has produced over a dozen works. For the purpose of better understanding of his interpretation of the Sikh history and religion as well as of the Nirmala history it is essential to know his social background and his literary attainments. Giani Gian Singh lived for the period of almost a century from A.D.1822 to A.D.1921. He was an eye-witness to the rise and fall of the Sikh empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors. Before him, the bulk of the serious Sikh Studies had come out in English and Persian, which was not easy for everyone to study. Moreover, historiography remained limited to verse up to the last decade of 19th century and took a significant turn when Sikh history began to be written in prose. The present is an attempt to highlight his works and his contribution to Punjabi literature Keywords: religion; historiography, literary creation; successor Panth Parkash was the monumental work of Giani Gian Singh which was written in A.D.1865. It is most valuable source on Sikh history upto the middle of the nineteenth century. It has been extremely used by almost all the modern scholars and historians of the Punjab of regional and local history. Its first lithograph edition came out in 1880 in Delhi. This is how he took the initiative of writing on various aspects of history of the Sikhs in prose and poetry. The modern historians of ______________________________________________________________________________ TAJ: Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture http://theachieversjournal.com 89 The Achievers Journal Volume 2, Issue 4 ISSN (ONLINE): 2395-0897 / ISSN (PRINT): 2454-2296 October-December, 2016 the Punjab have invariably used his work for various purposes. Infact, the Sikhs started writing their history in prose only from the days of Giani Gian Singh. Giani Gian Singh’s Panth Parkash significantly provides us late 19th century perspective of the Sikh past in general and the Khalsa Panth in particular by a Sikh scholar For writing it, first of all, he invoked God and then ten Sikh Gurus and their ‘Panth’ and the ‘Granth’. He claims it to be a true and sympathetic account of the Sikh Gurus of the ‘Khalsa Panth’ written for the Sikhs on the advice of his literary mentor, Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, and also with the permission of the whole Sikh Panth. Panth Parkash was written in Braj verse and its extent copy is available in lithograph form. It has 715 folios. Its second edition with certain additions was published from Lahore by Diwan Buta Singh’s press in A.D. 1889. Giani Gian Singh had composed 772 pages of the 2nd edition when he fell ill. As his illness prolonged, the printing work had to be suspended for a considerable time. However, Diwan Buta Singh got it published in A.D. 1889, adding some more pages and it consisted of 1418 folios and Giani Gian Singh was surprised to see his book being sold in the market. In this work, he has given detailed account of thirteen Sikh sects like Nirmalas, Nihang Singhs, Udasi Sect, Addan Shahis, Naranjanias or Hindalias Suthre Shahis, Sat Kartarias, Gangu Shahis, Bhai Behlo Sect, Bhai Mula Sect, Kuka Sect, Hira Dasia and Gulab Dasias, etc. He was, a contemporary of certain sects such as the Namdharis, the Gulabdasias, Bhai Mul Chandias and Hiradasi etc. and also contemporary of Bhai Vir Singh Bawa Prem Hoti and Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha. He was the first who wrote the history of Sikhs in Gurumukhi prose. He wrote both in poetry as well as prose. Prior to Giani Gian Singh Ibbetson, Maclagan and Temple have briefly mentioned about these sects and their literature. He is almost the only Punjabi writer who has attempted to give information about these sects keeping himself within a certain discipline. Panth Parkash was completed in A.D.1867, and published for the first time in A.D.1880. First edition was published ______________________________________________________________________________ TAJ: Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture http://theachieversjournal.com 90 The Achievers Journal Volume 2, Issue 4 ISSN (ONLINE): 2395-0897 / ISSN (PRINT): 2454-2296 October-December, 2016 by Giani Gian Singh himself and the second time it was published in the year A.D.1884. It consists of 960 pages. The edition published by Wazir Hind Press Amritsar. Later it passed through many editions in which its language was made easier to a layman. Twarikh Guru Khalsa is Giani Gian Singh’s very first work written in Punjabi prose describing the history of the Sikh Gurus. This Twarikh Guru Khalsa is a very voluminous work dealing with the account of the Sikhs right from their origin to the downfall of their political power. It is undoubtedly the first of its kind that covers such a wide range of Sikh history. He has divided this book into five distinct parts and mainly deals with about four hundred years of Sikh history. In the first part of this work he has written the life sketches of the Sikh Gurus and the gradual progress of the Sikh community under their noble stewardship. The author has very carefully narrated the various measures that the Sikh Gurus took for the many-sided growth of the Sikh religion and the community. He brings out very effectively impact of the sacrifices made by the Gurus. He also describes the building of the Sikh church, the call to arms and the transformation of the pacifist Sikh movement into the militant Sikh khalsa. In the second part of the work he narrates the bravery of Banda Bahadur and the struggle which was faced by the Sikhs against the Mughals. This part mainly deals with the hard and tedious life of the Sikhs, a period of persecutions and martyrdoms when Sikhs completely lost rights of citizenship in their own land. In the third part he deals with twelve misals the glory and fame of the Sikh Panth and then the account of the sovereign house of Maharaja Ranjit Singh till the annexation of Punjab by the British. In the fourth part the gives the accounts of various Sikh rulers and the Sikh community. The last and the fifth part deals with various Gurdwaras, Masands, Manjidars and other Sikh preaching ______________________________________________________________________________ TAJ: Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture http://theachieversjournal.com 91 The Achievers Journal Volume 2, Issue 4 ISSN (ONLINE): 2395-0897 / ISSN (PRINT): 2454-2296 October-December, 2016 centers and various sects. The first edition of the Twarikh comprising its first three parts was printed in 1891 A.D at Guru Gobind Singh press, Sialkot, with the help of Mahant Prem Singh, Hari Singh of Sialkot and Bula Singh of Rawalpindi. The author handed over the rights of publication to the Khalsa Tract Society, Amritsar. The first three parts of this monumental work ran into many editions in urdu as well as in Punjabi, the last edition being published in Punjabi by the Language Deptt. Punjab, Patiala in A.D.1970. Giani Gian Singh engaged in collecting information from old people for more than one and half decade and collected material from different places like. Banaras,Patiala and Kapurthala with lot of hardships. The encouragement of his teacher Tara Singh Narotam to write in verse the Sikh history entitled Panth Parkash which was completed in A.D.1867, gave him a very strong grounding for writing a bigger work in prose. The could be shortcomings in Giani Gian Singh’s Twarikh from which every pioneer work suffers in one way or the other but there is no denying the fact that this great work has inspired many readers, researchers and writers of Sikh history. This work itself speaks of the labours that the author undertook in its preparation despite his limitations. Gurdham Sangreh contains an account of the Sikh historical places and Gurdwaras. Giani Gian Singh personally visited to many such places and collected considerable information in regard to their history and growth as well as historical relics available there in. It also deals with the Nankana Sahib Tragedy and the representative Sikh institutions like Shromani Akali Dal and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. This book was written by Giani Gian Singh perhaps during the last days of his life. Giani Gian Singh invariably makes references, here and there, to the kinds of the sources he has used, the most significant being the works of Sikh history written previously by his predecessors during the first half of the 19th century; the oral Sikh tradition or the history by ______________________________________________________________________________ TAJ: Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture http://theachieversjournal.com 92 The Achievers Journal Volume 2, Issue 4 ISSN (ONLINE): 2395-0897 / ISSN (PRINT): 2454-2296 October-December, 2016 the word of mouth, listened to or collected personally by him from the elderly men and women of his times; the works of Persian chroniclers; and the last, but not the least, is the evidence of his personal observations. He makes a reference to some of these sources in Panth Parkash, while explaining what prompted him to write this work. In view of Sukhdial Singh, Giani Gian Singh’s Gurdham Sangreh is a survey report of the historical Sikh shrines. He writes that after making extensive tours to the Sikh shrines and the sacred places, which had been established by that time, he has penned their accounts in his Gurdham Sangrah.

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